On Sunday, 4 June, West African leaders met in Monrovia for the 51st Summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). On this occasion, they commended the peace efforts of the organisation’s member states whose armed forces have intervened in The Gambia (ECOMIG) and Guinea-Bissau (ECOMIB), while warning against the multiple threats to the region’s stability. During the summit, at which Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf handed over the reins to her Togolese counterpart Faure Gnassingbé, the heads of state made several strategic decisions. Read on

Of the 9.6 million people in need of food and nutrition assistance in the Sahel and West Africa (March-May 2017), some 7.1 million live in Nigeria: 3.2 million in Borno State, 800 000 in Adamawa State and 600 000 in Yobe State and the rest in other northern states. Some 44 000 more Nigerians currently face the threat of famine, mostly in Borno State. Read on

In Mali, “the Algiers Process is painfully slow, and peace is not advancing,” noted Jean-Hervé Jezequel, Deputy Project Director for West Africa at the International Crisis Group, offering his analysis of the situation in an interview on the website Sahelien.com. “The setting up of the interim authorities is a significant step towards clarifying the division of responsibilities and power in the north of the country. Beyond local tensions, it is also interesting to note that young Malians have been appointed to important positions (sometimes because they are the only graduates). But this remains a fragile and insufficient step,” he said. Read on

Women in West Africa - as in many other parts of the world - remain largely underrepresented in the political sphere. When we look at the national percentages, women occupy only 421 seats in West African parliaments, representing 16.1% of all lawmakers. Twelve out of the 17 West African countries have averages that are below the world average of 23.3%. Senegal is a notable exception. Read on